


For Those In Need

by PattRose



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Gen, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-06 09:49:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12814944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PattRose/pseuds/PattRose
Summary: Megan has a friend who is a school teacher and knows of five children in her class that won’t be having Christmas.  Megan goes to Jim, Blair, Simon and Joel to help her with these children discovering Christmas.Happy Birthday, Annie.  This is a lot like one I wrote for you years ago, but I liked the idea and went with it.  Have a wonderful day and make sure and eat lots and lots of cake. (I'm way too early, but we have a new baby coming and I'm so busy.  I didn't want to forget.)





	For Those In Need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnnieB](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieB/gifts).



For Those in Need  
By PattRose  
Summary: Megan has a friend who is a school teacher and knows of five children in her class that won’t be having Christmas. Megan goes to Jim, Blair, Simon and Joel to help her with these children discovering Christmas.  
Warnings: Sappy  
Genre: Gen  
Rating: Gen  
Word Count: 2006  
A/N: Happy Birthday, Annie. This is a lot like one I wrote for you years ago, but I liked the idea and went with it. Have a wonderful day and make sure and eat lots and lots of cake.

[ ](http://s71.photobucket.com/user/PattRose1/media/in%20need%20Annie_zps40cuqd2c.jpg.html)

Susan Stafford was a kindergarten teacher at a school that had a lot of poor families. In fact there were five children that were getting no Christmas at all. Their parents had told her at teacher conferences. Susan couldn’t let this happen. All the children were so sweet. They deserved to have a good Christmas as much as the next. She called her best friend Megan Connor who lived next door to see if she could help her brainstorm for ideas on how to help them all.

Megan of course said that she had four friends and herself that could make their Christmas’s much nicer. She asked Susan to get a list of things the children would like and their names and addresses so they could bring them over Christmas Eve, late at night. Susan was thrilled and said she would figure out all the details. 

The following day, Megan talked to Simon, Joel, Jim and Blair and found out they would all be interested in doing it. 

“Susan will let us each know about our child. She’s going to call you in the evening and let you know how you’re going to plan this. Right now she’s reaching the parents to see if they’ll go along with it. I knew I could depend on all of you.”

Rafe said, “Wait a minute, we didn’t get a child. Henri and I would like to do this too.”

“I’ll call Susan and see if she has any other children in older grades. We’ll find a family for you and Henri. Don’t worry,” Megan promised. 

Everyone talked about the Santa project all day when they weren’t working. Megan was never so proud of her friends. She knew she could depend on them. They never let her down.

*

That night Megan called Blair.

“Sandy? What do you think of the idea of having a Christmas Eve party at the station in the conference room for the kids? We could hire a Santa to hand out the presents and I think it would be much more fun. What do you think?”

“I think that Ben Carson in Vice would make a perfect Santa. He’s already got the beard. We just need a suit. Do you know him?” 

“I’ve never met him. But I’ll get his number tomorrow from Simon and go from there.”

“Megan, what if the parents don’t have a car or truck to get things home in? Then that would be a problem.”

“Oh, I never thought of that. We could ask all my helpers to run them home afterwards, right?”

“Yes, I think that would work. Talk to Ben tomorrow about being Santa.”

“Thank you, Sandy.”

“Bye, Megan.”

Blair walked out to the living room and said, “Megan wants to have the Christmas party at the station. She thinks it might be easier for us, the kids and the parents. What do you think?”

“I think that makes more sense than taking the gifts to the homes. You know it probably wouldn’t be that big of a deal to have whip cream and pies for the kids. Coffee and punch to drink and then Santa could come after all that.”

“Oh, that’s a terrific idea, Jim. The kids would love it and followed by the presents would make their night.”

“I was thinking we could get our kids a bike,” Jim suggested. 

“And I was thinking some smaller things because we don’t know if they have room to store them or not. We can get them some fun things. Like Lego set’s and things like that. We sure wouldn’t want them to leave their bikes outdoors and have them stolen, right?”

“You’re right, Blair. That would be horrible for them to have to deal with that.”

The phone rang and Blair answered it. 

“Blair?”

“Yes, this is Blair Sandburg, can I help you?”

“Hi. I’m Susan Stafford and I’m calling to give you your children’s names for the Santa Program and answer any questions you might have.”

“My friend Jim is going to do one of the kids and he thought bikes, but I told him we didn’t know if they have room for storing them inside. What do you think?”

“You’re absolutely right, Blair. Jim has a big heart, but these kids live in tiny apartments with no room for storing anything. I’m sure you can find a good gift that wouldn’t take up too much room. The parents of both of your children have rides there and back, so no worries about that. Jim’s buying for a little girl named Sophia. She wears a size six in clothing and pajamas and a size three in shoes. Your child is a little boy named Logan. He also wears a six and same sized shoes. So I can count on you for showing up on Christmas Eve, right?”

“Oh yeah. We’ll be there. Although they won’t know it’s from us. We’re having a Santa come in and give the gifts out. If that’s all right with you, that is.”

“Blair, that is so sweet. They’ll love it. Megan said there were two men in the bullpen that wanted to be in on this, do you think they could do Christmas stockings for each of the children?”

“What a great idea, Susan. I’ll tell Rafe and Henri tomorrow that they’re in charge of that. Oh, I almost forgot, we thought we’d serve apple pie and pumpkin pie with whip cream along with punch. Do you think the families would like that?”

“That’s such a good plan. I’m going to be there too, so they’ll feel a little more at home.”

“Okay, one toy for each child, one outfit, one pair of shoes and one pair of pajamas, right?” Blair asked. 

“I didn’t realize you would be getting them all that. If that’s possible, that is terrific. Thank you so much, Blair. Megan has told me all about you and Jim. She didn’t lie at all. You are the best. See you on Christmas Eve at six o’clock.”

Jim and Blair decided they would go shopping right then. Jim wanted to see if they had Lego sets for girls. Jim wasn’t up to date on girl items, but he was a fast learner. They went shopping and found out that buying kids things were a lot of fun. 

“We need to do this every year, Blair.”

“I agree. I think we’re having more fun than the kids will have. Which is a good thing.”

“I’m so damned excited about getting the Santa for the party. And we’ll make the pies. How does that sound, Chief?”

“Do you think you could call him tonight, Jim?”

“Ben? Sure. I even have a card with his number on it from a time we worked together. You know how I save everything.”

They left the store with two baskets of things, including gift wrap for everything and tags. They loaded it all into the back of the truck and took off for home. Jim was very careful as he drove so nothing fell out of the back. Once they arrived back at the loft, they wrapped all the presents and labeled each item. No one was going to get their gift mixed up that was for sure. 

Jim called Ben and asked him to be Santa and he was pleased as punch to do it. He even had a Santa suit from the year before. Jim couldn’t believe how well this was all going. 

Jim and Blair also found out that all the children were only children so there wouldn’t be children that didn’t get anything. 

Blair called Megan, Simon and Joel and told them what they got their two kids. All agreed that they would get them the same things, but not anything like anyone else already got. Blair told them all what they had picked up so none of them would get the same Lego sets. On the clothes, it was anyone’s guess who was going to get what. Then Blair called Henri and Rafe and asked them if they would do the Christmas stockings. Candy and small toys in each one. Blair gave them each the names for the stockings and gave them ideas for things to get. 

Things were going along well. Blair and Jim got busy making the pies. Everything was homemade and it would be fresh and delicious. Joel and Simon were bringing the whipped cream, while Megan was bringing the punch. Henri and Rafe were bringing forks, plates, napkins and cups. Everything was ready for the big day.

*

On Christmas Eve at 5:30 p.m., they got everything ready for the kids. The tree wasn’t real big, but it was beautiful anyhow. Ben came down and looked just like a real Santa. Rafe and Henri brought in the stockings and set them under the tree. Each stocking had the child’s name on it and Ben was all set. He had a huge bag that he was going to bring in for the children at 6:00. Simon kept him hiding in an interrogation room until he called for him. At first glance the children would think they were having punch and pies, with a stocking filled with fun things for each of them. They would have no idea that Santa would be bringing in the main items.

All the children and their parents and teacher showed up at exactly 6:00. Simon decided that the kids needed to eat first and see the stockings before Santa brought them their main gifts. So in the interrogation room, Ben was sitting without his Santa suit because it was hot. It would only take a few moments to get dressed when needed. It really helped that Ben had a natural Santa beard. Megan kept him happy with coffee and pie. 

Simon passed out each stocking to the kids and Blair and Jim passed out pie and punch for everyone. The kids were so excited to get the stockings, they couldn’t stop talking about everything in them. Finally at 7:00, Simon went to get Ben. Rhonda played Christmas music and all the kids heard, “Ho, Ho, Ho…”

Ben walked into the room and looked just like Santa should look. He had the big bag with all the presents over his shoulder. He sat down on a chair and passed out presents to each child when he called their name out. Before long, the children had opened all their presents and had taken pictures with Santa. Jim had taken all the pictures and put them in a frame for each child. Santa hugged each of them and told them he had to go deliver all the presents for everyone else. 

The kids didn’t want to let him go. They loved, Santa, aka, Ben. But finally their parents told them Santa had to deliver to all the other kids in town. 

Jim handed each of the kids their framed pictures with Santa Claus. As the parents were getting them ready to go, each child hugged all of the bullpen gang. It had been a wonderful night, filled with joy and wonder. 

Everyone helped the parents take the gifts downstairs to the parking garage. But once they got back upstairs all the gang sat down with Ben and had pie and coffee. 

They all had a wonderful time and were glad they had done this for the kids. Megan kept smiling at every single person and thanking them over and over again. So did Susan. This is what Christmas was all about to the bullpen gang and were glad of it. 

The end


End file.
